2012 Seattle Dougs Cadillac ATS & XTS Customer Appreciation Celebration

[G. David Felt]

G. David Felt

Staff Writer Alternative Energy - CheersandGears.com

Nov 30th 2012

Friday Night from 5pm to 9pm Dougs Cadillac of Seattle had their anual Customer Appreciation party with Wine, Woman and Cars! We were entertained by the local Seattle Big Band and Ball Room Dancing while enjoying excellent seafood, Cold cut meats, rice dishes, cheeses to go with the Wine and Beer. The only requirement was to bring a bag of non perishable food to donate to Food LifeLine of Seattle.

The night started for me at 5pm and a test drive in the ATS AWD. This was an amazing car for me. At 6'6" tall I was still able to find a comfy seat position that allowed me to drive and realize that anyone who thinks BMW only has a driving machine has not driven an ATS yet.

While the car is designed for smaller people as no one could sit behind me, the ATS is a Tight, dialed in driving machine. This car needs little movement from the driver to go where you want it to go. With the heads up display and an easy to learn CUE I was able to take off down the road and really enjoy just how easy it is to have an engaging experiance. My ATS was Silver with a Red and Black interior accented with carbon fiber panels. Being a computer engineer, I took to the car and the CUE system like a fish to water.

I will admit that I heard many people talk about how they enjoyed Cadillac having people there to explain and train people on how to use the CUE system. So Apple like in their experiance. I have to say that Cadillac with their focus on making sure new buyers know how to use their auto's have a hit on their hands.

The car cut up the road as I drove down highway 99 and found myself exceeding the speed limt by 40 mph doing 85 in a 45 zone. This is how easy and comfy the car is to drive and how fast the ATS is.

Everything was in easy reach, the abilty to control the car via the steering wheel pedals or via the shifter allow anyone to have a enjoyable drive. If you want to just put it in drive and go, no problem, if you want to be your own F1 driver, use the steering wheel pedal shifters and the car moves. I honestly have to say I have never had such an enjoyable driving experiance. The last time I was giddy with driving was when I drove my friends 2011 M3 and yet this v6 AWD gave me the same experiance. Responsive and direct in the feedback. I can honestly say this is a driving machine with the ease of luxury for those that wish to just point and drive.

I see young people really being taken with this car.

The only strange thing was that the CD changer was in the glove box. I was very impressed with the adaptive head restraints that GM has put into their ATS and XTS as it is comfy and I can see how it would absorbe the impact of an accident to protect the occupants neck. This is probably one of the more surprising attention to details that Cadillac has given to the car.

The XTS I drove was also an AWD. While a bit under powered and not as sporty as the AWD ATS, I will have to say that the engineers dialed it in for the intended crowd of baby boomers and the late 40-50 crowd. I was actually surprised at how responsive the v6 engine is and can see people not missing a v8. Being a v8 fan of power, this car has proven to me that you can have a luxury touring car that is responsive and comfy in a large format sedan.

The show ended with a surpise for me as a man traded in his 62 corvette for the 2013 Back out edition CTS Coupe V that I was able to look at but was locked. He truly gave up his lovely vette for a new bad ass Caddy!

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[GMTruckGuy74]

Sounds like fun!! Can't wait to see the pictures

[Drew Dowdell]

The pictures can't be more then 2 mb in size.

[G. David Felt]

The pictures can't be more then 2 mb in size.

Correct, I have been down sizing them, but last night I got that weird error and after 1hr of trying to upload to the gallery the pictures I had ready under 2mb in size, I went to bed. Will get going on it now this morning.

YEAH I have the Gallery Up!

[G. David Felt]

I have to say I really love the Black and Red interior on the ATS with the Carbon Fiber accent panels. This is one of the best interiors I have seen GM do on a car.

Also If I had the surplus cash I would buy the old Vette that was traded in as it is freakin perfect. Such a beauty.

Edit: I embedded the photo gallery into the original article - Oldsmoboi

[Robert Hall]

Is it just the lighting, or the does the red trim in the ATS appear to be a salmon pinkish red?

[G. David Felt]

Is it just the lighting, or the does the red trim in the ATS appear to be a salmon pinkish red?

No you are right it is more of a pinkish red than red or fire engine red. The stiching does match the interior color and it is darker than what you see as the flash is making it lighter than it really is.